2:21 PM - 2:33 PM
[U11-04] Working Toward Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Geological Society of America
★Invited Papers
Keywords:Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, GSA
The Geological Society of America (GSA) is pressing forward to evaluate and enhance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the geosciences. Although GSA has worked at these goals for decades, we are taking this time to assess and reflect on our practices and procedures. We are focusing on three aspects to accelerate impact. We are examining our entire nominations and awards processes. We have assembled a committee of academic, governmental, and industry professionals to determine whether there are hidden biases in how we solicit and evaluate candidates for leadership positions or society-wide medals and awards. Some improvements in how we identify candidates for leadership positions have already been implemented. The second focus is the meaning of and process for awarding the status of Fellow in the society. Again, we have assembled a diverse group of professional geoscientists to review the process and criteria. We are also reframing the organization's goals to measure whether we are making progress with our efforts towards impacting diversity and inclusion in the society and the geosciences. The GSA Council, the member-elected management board of the society, is leading this evaluation.
Our approach both benchmarks our procedures with respect to those used by other professional societies and calls upon our membership's breadth of experience to identify fairness and excellence. We strive to understand the best practices of equity and be able to fit these approaches as appropriate to GSA.
Our approach both benchmarks our procedures with respect to those used by other professional societies and calls upon our membership's breadth of experience to identify fairness and excellence. We strive to understand the best practices of equity and be able to fit these approaches as appropriate to GSA.